About
About me
I completed my law degree in two years, fitting in a year spent in Egypt and New Brunswick with Canada World Youth along the way. I was in a hurry to see how justice is lived elsewhere. That impatience has never left me.
It took me to the Supreme Court of Canada, as a law clerk to Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé, and then to Harvard Law School as a Fulbright and Trudeau Scholar, where I earned my doctorate in law. It also took me to Beirut, Paris, London, Berlin, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, documenting the journeys of women recounting their divorces, their religious belonging and the strategies they used to negotiate a freedom they had been denied. They are the ones who made me a comparatist.
My practice rests on four pillars: leadership, human rights, the Francophonie and the democratization of knowledge.
These four words are not decorative. Leadership is the conviction that systems can be transformed, provided we make room for our own strength and creativity in a setting that calls for the collaboration of others. Thinking differently. Acting concretely. And innovating in how we respond to the great social questions that still confront us daily in this global village of tangled interdependencies.
Human rights is the Observatory, which generates and democratizes knowledge through a community of researchers, practitioners, artists and inspiring leaders who set out to change the world and do so each in their own way. We learn from one another. We name our blind spots. We innovate in how we teach. We build something larger than ourselves. We create a generous network that cares as much for ideas as for action.
The Francophonie is the conviction that French is a language of pride and of power, not merely of heritage. It crosses borders. It brings hearts together. It propels individuals and nations forward.
The democratization of knowledge is my students presenting their research in Geneva before the treaty bodies, because international law is learned by looking it in the eye. It is also the initiatives that dare: the podcasts, the documentaries, the visual art and the fashion shows that carry a message. A message about status, belonging, visibility and invisibility, nobility or exclusion.
The positions I have held have never defined me. What matters is what we set in motion while we hold them.
Number of publications and articles
Number of conferences
Grants obtained
Number of prizes
37
85
120+
$4.3M
Education
Download my resume:
June - July 2015
March 2015
2002 - 2007
2001
1999 - 2000
1997 - 1998
1994 - 1997
NSEAD, The Business School for the World (Fontainebleau, France)
Leadership Programme for Executives (International Women's Forum)
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, Cambridge (Massachusetts, USA)
Leadership Programme for Executives (International Women's Forum)
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
SJD (Doctor of Laws)
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (DAVIS) and BERKELEY (California, USA)
Certificate in American Law
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
LL.M. (Master of Laws); Resident Fellow at Massey College
Quebec Bar Association, Quebec City (Quebec, Canada)
Sworn in as a lawyer in 1998; Ad.E. (2009)
LAVAL UNIVERSITY, Quebec City (Quebec, Canada)
LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws; completed in 2 years)
Participation in the Canada World Youth program in 1995-1996
Professional experience
2007-
Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada)
Assistant Professor (2007–2010)
Associate Professor (2010–2014)
Full Professor (2014–)
2024-
Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada)
UN HUMAN RIGHTS OBSERVATORY (learn more)
Founding Director
2024-
University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada)
Human Rights Research and Teaching Center
Member
2018 - 2023
PIERRE ELLIOTT TRUDEAU FOUNDATION, Montreal (Quebec, Canada)
President and CEO
2012 - 2018
Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada)
RESEARCH CHAIR ON LEGAL PLURALISM AND COMPARATIVE LAW
Chairholder
2015 - 2018
Montreal (Quebec, Canada)
Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights
Commissioner
2014 - 2018
Ottawa (Ontario, Canada)
Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on Children's Rights (LRIDE)
Associate Researcher
2014 - 2018
Université de Montréal (Québec, Canada)
Public Law Research Center (CRDP)
Associate Researcher
2013 - 2018
University of Montreal (Quebec, Canada)
ETHICS RESEARCH CENTER (CRE)
Associate researcher and collaborating member
2011 - 2018
University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada)
RELIGION AND DIVERSITY PROJECT
Research Associate, supervised by Professor Lori G. Beaman
2012 - 2018
St. Mary's College, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews (Scotland, UK)
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION AND POLITICS
Associate Researcher
STUDENT SUPERVISION AND
RESEARCH TEAMS
I see my role as researcher and educator as inseparable from the emerging leadership of my students, from a culture of human rights, and from the mission of democratizing knowledge that flows from it.
This wholehearted commitment to the public and to students has been recognized by the University of Ottawa President's Award for Excellence in Media Relations (2011) and the Capital Educators' Award from the Ottawa Network for Education (ONFE, 2016). I have supervised many graduate students over the course of my career, though three high-risk pregnancies and maternity leaves interrupted that work on several occasions.
Through my Research Chair (2012-2018), I hired more than 50 students, several of whom joined me in the field to conduct interviews or share research findings, whether in Eastern Canada, Scotland, France, England, Germany, Spain, Israel or Lebanon. As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation (2018-2023), I went on to establish high-level scholarly programs at both the national and international levels, serving 110 doctoral Scholars, 30 Fellows who are university professors, and 50 Mentors from every sector, all of whom I supported in their scholarly work.
Since launching the Observatory on Human Rights at the United Nations in August 2024, I have guided 30 Pilots, 30 Collaborators and 30 student Leaders, both academically and personally. This work is a genuine gift to me: creating occasions for dialogue and building bridges between academia, international organizations and the wider public.
Teaching experience
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA (Canada)
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY (NYU) (United States)
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL (United States)
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY (United States)
STATE UNIVERSITY OF HAITI (Haiti)
LAVAL UNIVERSITY (Feminist Summer University) (Canada)
UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE (Costa Rica)
McGILL UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF LAW (Canada)
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, POLITICS DEPARTMENT (United States)
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL (United States)
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, FACULTY OF LAW (Canada)
UNIVERSITY OF TURIN, FACULTY OF LAW (Italy)
UNIVERSITY OF PALERMO, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL
SCIENCES AND FACULTY OF LAW (Italy)INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES AND RESEARCH (Iran)
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, GRADUATE PROGRAM (United States)
Legal experience
SUPERIOR COURT OF QUEBEC (Family Division) (Canada)
CIRCUIT SHORT OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY (United States)
18th Judicial District Court (United States)
THE NATIONAL JUDICIAL INSTITUTE (Canada)
UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM (United States)
CANADIAN COUNCIL OF MUSLIM WOMEN (Canada)
HELLER EHRMAN WHITE & McAULIFFE (United States)
SUPREME COURT OF CANADA (Canada)
SECRETARIAT FOR THE STATUS OF WOMEN (Canada)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (Egypt)
NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT (Canada)
